Objective. The aim of this study is to investigate whether mothers' perception of distance from home to green/
open spaces is associated with their child's screen time.
Method. We used mother-reported data from sweep six (2010–2011) of the Growing Up in Scotland study
(n = 3586 children aged 5.9 yrs) to examine associations between walking distance from home to green/open
space and screen time (TV viewing time/computer use). Analyses were adjusted for age, sex and other prespecified
covariates, including sport/exercise participation, mental and general health, birth weight, parental
socio-economic group (SEG) and smoking status.
Results. Children living the furthest distance from green/open spaces (N20 minutes' walking distance)
displayed over 2 h (95% CI, 0.65 to 3.51) more weekly TV time than the reference category (b5 minutes' walking
distance). Compared to children in the reference category, those in the N20 minute category had worse mental
health (mean SDQ [Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire] score ± SD, 7.0 ± 4.6 vs. 8.7 ± 6.2) and general
health (% fair–poor, 4.6 vs. 8.6), and were more likely to come from lower SEG households.
Conclusion. Mothers' perceived distance from home to green/open spaces was associated with child's TV time
at age 5.9 years.

Description:

This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/).

Sponsor:

This
study is partly supported through a grant from the Economic Social
Research Council (ES/M003795/1). LS is supported by the National
Institute for Health Research's School for Public Health Research. MH
is supported by the British Heart Foundation (RE/10/005/28296).